The Portland daily press., 1887-06-18
the USE OF COCA.
Consul Du Pre- Tells OF It's Marvellous
Effects Upon the Natives OF South
America.

Consul Du Pre- transmits from San Saliva
dor an interesting report upon the use Of CO.
GA in that country and Its effects upon the
inhabitants. He says:
II have seen so much recently written Of
coca In newspapers and in medical publiea-
lions that am impelled to report what l
have learned Of the virtues Of this product OF
South American forests. With leathern
straps passing around their fOreheads to
sustain burdens Of one hundred and fifty or
two hundred pounds on their backs. find
these 1.-the, slender natives trayersing plains
and mountains with greater celebrity than
the mule bestride, which travels through
the livelong day six miles an hour. Native
physicians, elves Of the school Of Paris, con-
cur In assuring me that this extraordinary
capacity for endurance Of toll and hunger Is
TO be ascribed to the use Of these yiageros Of
coca.
the chief intoxicant Of men and women:
Youths through many days are intrusted
with the care of valuable f0cks Of llamas,
having no other sustenance than TO be found
in little leathern purses containing coca ana
its compounds. Indians chew II constantly
Theirs, like the maxlllary movements OF to-
bacc0 chewers, are incessant. From thirty
TO fifty gramas are consumed daily, serving,
unlike tobacco, both as food and stimulant.
Without coca habitual chewers cannot d.
gest food; without it they are unable to as
cend mountains, with long, rapid strides,
never Stacking their wonderful speed through
the livelong day. They will not toll without
1t; without 1t they enjoy nothing without 1t,
practically, they cease TO live. The imme-
date effect of chewing coca Is perfect insen-
sibility Of the interior Of the mouth. The
INN a fofa ig a vel
experience when finding that his mouth had
become q great void In somebody elses head
had dentist apply 1t when extracting the
root of a molar tooth. and the effect was as
described. Indians constantly using coca
finally lose the senses OF taste and smell.
They can eat, without repugnance, most
disgusting food and drink most nauseating
draughts. The constituencies of the mucous
membrane has been destroyed. When one
goes further and swallows the saliva impreg-
mated with the juice Of the coca leaf, de-
licious sensation of warmth and perfect
blessedness peryades ones whole being, in
tellectual, nervous and physical, and he Is
wrapped In the joys Of an elysium.
In doses Of fifteen to sixty grains, coca
produces delightful intoxication. Its joys
transcend in perfect blessedness all known
human delights. A sensation OF lightness
first Supervenes; the air inhaled Is Zephyrs
from angels wings; then wild imaginings
and fantastic Authorizations and gorgeous
is intoxication without drowsiness, without
congestion of the brain, involving a sense Of
perfect rest. The law Of grayitation Is sus-
pended and the coquero drifts bodily among
the stars. Meanwhile the muscular system
is stimulated to an extraordinary degree.
abling the possessed of this demon to
watch and toll through sleepless days and
nights. No dreadful headache or more in
tolerable nervous pr0strati0n follows.
1t is the most potent nervine, almost, at
mans disposal. Its hygienic properties are
disclosed from its physiological properties, /"
says a Spanish M. d., who adds that in hot
infusion il Is the one useful and healthful
beverage one can use after dining. Especial
ly Is it commended TO the feeble, TO those
who have transcribed limits Of sobriety in
using alcohol. Its virtue should be tested,
therefore, in inebriate asylums. Ii surely
Gains nervous excitability Of many. and,
taken in small quantities, enables one to en-
dure cold and rain and snow, and 1t enables
one to defy great fatigue, and restores the
used for Indigestion, for diserdered stom-
achs, for hysteria, fiatulency, and collie, and
all forms ofintestinal disorders. 1t Is used
constantly by toilars in mines, and when one
reaches the mines after marching several
days through forests and over mountains,
sustained alone by the use Of coca and
maize, he is permitted to eat at discretion
through four days and have perfect rest.
Then he is in perfect health and fresh and
fat" says the writer above quoted.
COcaismo-habitual intoxication by use Of
coca-more easily becomes habitual and in
durable than alcoholism or addictiveneSs to
0piates. Its consequences, however, are not
yet wholly measured or comprehended. Ex-
cessiye and constant use Of this int0xicant
begets rapidly moral and intellectual degra-
dation and decay; steady decline Is inter-
rupted at intervals by reslstless impulses tn
do most violent and brutal acts. The nature
Of the father, as perverted by the drug, Is
transmitted TO the child, and the inveterate
vice, operating through generations, is said
to account for the brutality Of races Of In.
dians, the Quichas and Almaras Of Bolivian
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